Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/34

28 hydrogen gas collects in some of the shafts which are not properly ventilated, and there have been explosions of fire-damp which destroyed a good many lives.

These accidents were the result of carelessness either of the miners or their superintendents, and since their occurrence a more rigid system of inspection has been established.

"We stopped at the bottom of the shaft, which is about three hundred feet deep; there we were released from our fastenings and allowed to use our feet again. Then we were guided through a perfect labyrinth of passages, up and down ladders, along narrow paths, into halls spacious enough for the reception of an emperor, and again into little nooks where men